The Ones We Love
by TheCosmicBanana
Summary: "YOU'RE THAT SPIDER-THING FROM THE NEWS?" It's the morning after May found out about the suit, and the air has yet to clear in the wake of all the shouting and the swearing that followed. Confessions, lies, and reduced-price chocolate. Comes after the events of Homecoming. Valentine's Day one-shot.


Peter had done a lot of stupid things in his life, but taking the Spider-Man mask off _while_ wearing the rest of the suit was definitely one of the stupidest.

He drummed his fingers rapidly against his arms as he paced his room. May had found out yesterday, but it still felt like only a few hours ago. His heart had not stopped racing, and neither had his brain. He kept mentally replaying that hour, thinking everything over way too much and way too long.

The shouting. The swearing. The desperate attempts at explaining. Every stupid excuse he had tried before realizing there was no point in trying to deny anything.

A buzzing noise broke into his thoughts. Looking up, Peter saw his phone on the nightstand light up. He snatched up the phone like a lifeline, relieved to have something else to focus on.

It was Ned.

 _Ned: Ur not at school r u okay?_

Peter started typing.

 _Peter: Yeah I'm just at home_

 _N: Why?_

 _N: You're not injured right? Like from a spider patrol_

 _N: Spidey patrol sorry autocorrect_

 _N: ARE U IN THE HOSPITAL?_

 _P: Ned. I'm fine_

 _N: Why are u at home?_

 _N: Peter?_

 _N: Are u still there_

 _P: May found out._

Peter took a deep breath as he pressed send and waited tensely for Ned's reply.

Three little dots – what were they called? ellipses? – popped up on the left side of the screen. Ned was typing.

 _N: HOLY CRUD_

 _P: Yeah I know_

 _N: How?_

 _P: Saw me in the suit_

 _P: With the mask off obviously_

 _N: Yikes_

 _N: Dunno what to say_

 _P: Yeah_

 _N: So she made you stay home from school?_

Peter heaved out a long breath as his fingers started moving rapidly over the keys.

 _P: Well she swore and I freaked out and then she started yelling while I tried explaining and the more it went on she remembered all the stuff she had seen in the news and started crying which was worse_

Peter grimaced to himself and deleted everything back to the word _news_. Ned didn't need to know all of this. He sent what was left and kept typing.

 _P: Long story short yeah she made me stay home today_

 _N: Damn... sorry bro_

 _P: It was gonna happen eventually I guess_

 _N: R u on house arrest now?_

 _P: No... I dunno. I think she was just really upset_

 _N: :(_

 _P: She's gone rn_

 _N: Really?_

 _P: Yeah I heard her leave just as I got up_

Peter's eyes flicked up to check the time at the top of his phone screen.

 _P: Next period starts in four minutes. Are you in class_

 _N: Yeah_

 _P: Better pay attention its chem_

 _N: Yeah you're so much better at it than i am_

 _N: Good luck with may bro_

 _P: Thanks_

Peter gave his phone a halfhearted smile. He felt a little better, but still not great, after letting some of that out. With a deep kind of dread in his stomach, he knew he would have to talk to May eventually. He checked the time again and frowned. It was almost ten.

Keys jangled in the lock of the apartment.

 _Uh-oh_. Peter jolted upright on the bed as if he had been stung, and his stomach twisted anxiously.

The door to the apartment opened, and through his wall Peter could hear May walk in. He listened to her footsteps, mentally mapping out where she was. Her footsteps led to the kitchen, and he heard the rustle of plastic bags on the counter. She must have gone shopping.

Her footsteps led through the kitchen, down the hall – _she's definitely coming this way_ – all the way up to right outside his room. Peter felt himself tense up, and even though he was waiting for it, he still flinched outwardly as a knock sounded on his door.

 _Crap crap crap okay Parker you can do this._ "Y-yeah?"

The door swung open, and his aunt stood in the doorframe.

"May," Peter said quickly. He took a deep, shaky breath and plunged into what he had been planning to say before he lost his nerve. "I wanted to s–"

May sharply raised a hand. "I don't want to hear it."

"I –" Peter faltered and stopped short. "Okay."

May blew breath out her cheeks as she leaned against the doorframe and shook her head. "Look, kiddo, I don't want to talk about it right now. I actually don't want to talk about _any_ of it, _ever_ , but –" She took a deep breath. "For now – I brought a peace offering."

She held up a textbook-sized object and tossed it onto Peter's bed.

In a split-second, Peter's spider-senses reacted. His arm shot forward to catch it midair before realizing that showing off his spider-skills probably wasn't the best thing to do right now. He jerked his arm back down just as quickly as he had raised it, hoping May hadn't seen.

The box landed on the bed with a little rattle. Peter blinked at it in surprise. He wasn't totally sure what he had been expecting, but it definitely wasn't this.

It was a heart-shaped cardboard box, with large red hearts printed all over it. There was a heart-shaped patch of clear cellophane in the center, showing off its contents of sixteen fancy assorted chocolates. He also noted, somewhat irrelevantly, that there was a large yellow sticker on one side declaring _50% OFF_!

Peter looked up wordlessly at his aunt.

"Key Foods," May said, as if that explained everything. "I know, Valentine's was a week ago, but you know how they have those sales. Everything's seventy percent off, and only the good stuff is left because it was too expensive full-price. . . ." She trailed off and cleared her throat. "So, look, how's this sound? We put on the Hallmark channel, make fun of whatever sappy Valentine's Day rerun that's playing while we secretly enjoy it, and eat chocolate until we feel sick." She paused. "And," she continued delicately, "we'll talk about the. . . ." She groped for the right word. "The _spider_ _issue_ later."

"Yeah," Peter said, and his voice caught in his throat. All of a sudden, he felt almost shaky with relief at the truce. "Yeah, actually, that sounds – that sounds great."

"Alright." May shifted her weight from one foot to the other, absentmindedly fiddling with the ring on her finger.

Peter swallowed past the lump in his throat and half-smiled at the box in his lap. "Weren't you still on that weird diet, though?" he asked, risking a glance up at her. "No sugar, no gluten, no. . . dairy, or something? Basically nothing edible?"

"What, Paleo?" May waved her have in a dismissive motion. "Eh, screw it. We evolved for a reason." She gestured toward the chocolates. "Come on, open it up. Calories don't exist on holidays."

"Technically, it's not a holiday," Peter said, starting to grin. He took the heart-shaped box and stood up from the bed. "And biologically, it doesn't work like that anyway."

"Mentally, I don't care." May checked the watch on her wrist. "Next movie's on in two minutes. Let's go!"

* * *

They crammed together on the undersized couch in the living room, sacrificing the throw pillows to the floor so they could both fit. After that, there was just enough room for two blankets, the TV remote, and their chocolate boxes. May had bought herself the same assorted box as Peter. Actually, she had bought several, but Peter diplomatically decided to ignore the stacks of them sitting on the counter.

"How about –" May popped the lid off hers, "we both tell each other which flavors are gross, where the caramel-turtles are, and which ones are strawberry-flavored so we can throw them in the trash."

Peter laughed. "Deal."

He turned up the volume on the TV as the opening credits came up on the screen, and they tucked into their chocolates.

Probably not the healthiest breakfast, but who cared.

Eighteen-and-a-half chocolates later, the movie was halfway through, and both Peter and May were surrounded by empty paper wrappers.

Peter bit the corner of another chocolate and checked the inside. "Another peanut one," he said.

"Mm?" May sucked some caramel off her finger and glanced over at her own box. "Which one?"

"The kinda oval one." Peter looked over. "Uh, swirly pattern on top, kinda lighter – that one." He pointed to her box.

"Aw, _yesss_! There's two of them!" May whooped.

"Want my second one?" Peter picked it out of what remained in his box.

"Sure, you don't like the peanut ones anyway. I'll trade for my other caramel."

They swapped chocolates, and Peter turned his attention back to the TV. On-screen, the lead actor and lead actress were in the middle of an argument, involving lots of fake-emotional tears and awkward dialogue.

" _You were the one I thought I was going to love forever, Dave!"_

" _Well, Jenny, I guess now you can kiss that dream goodbye."_

"Is Dave the one who broke up with her, or the one we want her to get with?" Peter asked, frowning.

"Uhm –" May looked up and squinted, open-mouthed, at the screen through her glasses. "No, I think he's the. . . wait, I thought it was the businessman guy who broke up with her."

"No, I'm pretty sure that was Michael. This is the other guy, the Dave guy."

"Oh, okay." May shrugged and looked back down at her chocolate box. "I think you're paying this more attention than I am," she chuckled. "Huh. Look at this one."

"Mm?" Peter glanced at the square of chocolate she was holding up. Slim white-chocolate lines had been piped across the top, forming a crisscross pattern.

"Looks like a spiderweb, don't you think?"

Peter noted the lightness of May's tone, how she was quietly edging around the subject. She had given him the perfect window to bring up the Spider-Man issue, and it was up to him whether they should try talking about it again.

He chose the path of least resistance. He was having fun, and he didn't want to ruin the moment. Wrinkling his nose, he shook his head. "It's probably coconut or something inside. Leave it for when you're really desperate later."

She gave him a little smile, and he felt himself relax a little. She hadn't wanted to break the truce, either. "I've actually always liked the coconut ones," she said.

"What?" Peter looked at her. A half-amused, half-puzzled expression came on his face. "Really?"

"Really." She wiggled her eyebrows and took a bite of the spider-webbed chocolate. "Mm. You're right," she said, holding a hand over her mouth. She turned it around so he could see the inside. "Coconut."

" _Eugh,_ " Peter said, only half-joking. "Gross. You can have mine."

May shrugged one shoulder. "Your loss, kiddo."

The movie faded to black, signaling a commercial break, and was replaced a flash of bright red and blue. The words BREAKING NEWS flashed across the screen, and a reporter started speaking as the TV started showing footage of the smoldering remains of Tony Stark's trashed plane.

"Cleanup crews continue to clear the debris left on the beach of Coney Island after a Stark Industries plane crashed there in flames two days ago. The identity of the person responsible for this near-disaster has been released. A man by the name of Adrian Toomes –"

Toomes' mugshot flashed onscreen, and Peter cringed inwardly as the reporter continued.

"Toomes, aged 61, was imprisoned today after being charged with grand larceny and murder –"

Peter pressed mute, wishing he had done so sooner. Silence filled up the room like cold air.

"Hey, I'm gonna get some water," he said, standing up a little too quickly. "D'you want anything?"

"I'm fine, Peter," May murmured.

"Okay."

When he came back, he noticed with relief that the news update was over, and the TV was now just showing a commercial for Tide.

"Mmm, Tide. Like I wasn't already hungry," Peter joked as he came back in the room.

May didn't respond, and as he sat down again he felt a twinge of worry. He had been hoping they were both going to ignore the news.

"Scary stuff, huh," she said, keeping her eyes lowered to her lap. "Murderers hijacking planes. Bringing them down in flames. Dealing weapons."

Peter had the sudden feeling that, like it or not, they were going to have this conversation, and apparently they were going to have it now.

"And Spider-Man was there, wasn't he?" May slapped her palms together. " _Smack-dab_ in the middle of all of it." Her voice sounded funny, and Peter could tell she was trying very hard to keep her voice from rising into a shout.

Peter licked his lips. He realized he was going to have to choose his words very carefully. "May," he started, "I. . . I knew what I was doing." _Total lie_. "And in the suit, you know, I don't – I wouldn't – I'd never put myself in danger. On purpose." _Is my nose growing yet?_

"Oh, and that's for you to decide, huh?" May said, a slightly-hysterical laugh bubbling up through her words. "What's too dangerous and what's not? What will and won't get you killed?"

Peter blinked rapidly. The movie had had returned from the commercial, but he didn't bother turning the sound back on. Neither he nor May were paying attention anymore, but they were watching it anyway. Avoiding direct eye contact.

"Your mom gave me you to look after, and by _God_ I want to do that for her." May gave a little gasp of air and blew it through her cheeks again. "I want to look after you in the best way possible, but I have _no idea_ what that is."

Peter breathed in, breathed out. He tried to ignore his pounding heartbeat and his inability to breathe and the tears stinging at the backs of his eyes.

"I know," he tried to say, but it just came out as a squeak. "I know, May."

A long silence stretched between them. The characters onscreen talked silently, their mouths moving with no sound coming out.

"Peter?" May said at last, her voice oddly gentle. "Honey, I've got one shot at this parenting thing, and I don't want to mess it up."

Peter felt his stomach turn over. He wasn't sure if it was shame, embarrassment, or just the overwhelming sense of guilt that felt like it was going to swallow him up from the inside out. After several long, agonizing moments, he shook his head and looked over at her. "You're not gonna mess up."

"Yeah?" May took another bite and chewed slowly. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead. "You sound awful sure."

Peter's voice stuck in his throat. "You haven't yet," he said, his voice squeaking slightly. "And you never will."

Now she turned to him. Behind her large, owlish glasses, her eyes were wet, and almost instantly her face crinkled up into both a smile and a sob. Wordlessly, she opened her arms, and Peter leaned forward to hug her tightly.

"I love you, May," he said into her shoulder.

Taking a deep sniff, she turned her head to plant a kiss in his hair. "Love you too, kiddo."

* * *

 **A/N: Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. :)**


End file.
